Brits who partake in a cheeky wee in the sea may need to budget an extra £635 for their holidays in Marbella where authorities are set to roll out new penalties as part of a Costa del Sol tourist cleanup drive.
Councillors in the holiday hotspot in southern Spain have declared bathers will face fines of up to €750 if they are caught performing ‘physiological evacuations in the sea and on the beach’.
The measure, which has been approved in a plenary session and is now awaiting public scrutiny, formulates part of a wider legislation aimed at cracking down on the impact of tourism in the Spanish resort region.
It comes after lawmakers in Vigo, a city in the Galicia region, rolled out a similar rule some two years ago.
The fine will be doubled for each repeat offence, meaning a second penalty will be set at €1,500 euros and the third up to €3000.
But the move has been criticised and even ridiculed by locals, many of whom regularly partake in the practice themselves and say it is impossible to regulate and enforce.
Councillors in the holiday hotspot in southern Spain have declared bathers will face fines of up to €750 if they are caught performing ‘physiological evacuations in the sea and on the beach’
Councillors in the holiday hotspot in southern Spain have declared beachgoers will face fines of up to €750 if they are caught performing ‘physiological evacuations in the sea and on the beach’
Tourists flash their bottoms on the beach in Spain
Brits who partake in a cheeky wee in the sea may need to budget an extra £635 for their holidays in Marbella
Most commentators agreed that urinating on the sand is understandably seen as an offence and can be policed.
But urinating in the sea is a different story.
‘Who’s going to find the culprits – the jellyfish?’ one incredulous interviewee said when asked about the measure by Mario Picazo for Spanish television show ‘Tiempo al tiempo’, according to media outlet El Correo.
‘Let them worry about other things – this is idiotic!’ another said.
‘What would a policeman be looking for? You can’t see, I don’t understand anything.’
Other outlets openly criticised the measure, declaring that weeing in the sea was ‘one of the most widespread customs in our country’.
Despite the outrage, the measure has actually been in place in Malaga ever since 2004 – albeit with much lower penalties.
Bathers can be fined up to €300 at present if they are caught urinating at the beach.
But these fines would be bumped up considerably if the new legislation passes, along with a raft of other measures.
These include a series of new restrictions limiting ball games and paddleboards in parts of beaches where the activities could be seen to ‘disturb other beach users’.
Beachgoers will also have to obtain authorisation from the relevant authorities before holding any parties, public events or competitions on the 25 beaches in Marbella affected by the legislation.
Marbella24horas later reported other restrictions will prevent people from leaving umbrellas or parasols in the sand to reserve a space on the beach, and from leaving cigarette butts, rubbish and food scraps in the sand.
Parking caravans or motorhomes by the beach will also be prohibited where it ‘contravenes the applicable traffic regulations’.
These measures in Marbella come months after authorities on the island of Mallorca rolled out new penalties to crack down on chaos created by drunken tourists.
Drunken Brits are seen in the streets of Spanish holiday resort Magaluf this summer
Partygoers can be seen sitting on the pavements with their heads in their hands after a long night of hitting the town
In Magaluf – one of the most notorious party destinations popular with Brits – tourists are now subject to draconian laws that prohibit drinking on the streets or buying alcohol in corner shops past 8.30pm.
Anyone breaking the rules introduced on May 11 could be fined up to €1,500 (£1,350).
If someone’s offence is decided to be more serious, the fines could increase to €3,000 (£2,550).
The strict new regulations also prohibit tourists from organising drinking parties in public, spraying graffiti, riding scooters and displaying nudity.
They are set to stay in place until at least 2027, at which point the regulations will be reviewed for effectiveness and impact.
